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Superman: The Art and Making of the Film
James Gunn's
Superman
marks the triumphant theatrical return of Smallville's favorite son, kicking off a bold new era of DC storytelling under the umbrella of DC Studios.
In The Art and Making of the Film, fans are granted an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Gunn's vision for a Superman that brings the character back to his optimistic, heroic, and brightly colored roots with all the action, adventure, humor, and heart that audiences have experienced in his previous DC entries, The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker, and Creature Commandos.
Author James Field (The Art of The Batman) documents every stage of the film's production, from Gunn and his DC Studios co-chairman and co-CEO Peter Safran's earliest conversations about what their vision for Superman would be and what he would represent, to the comics they would turn to for inspiration, to costume and set design, and continuing on to post-production FX.
Field conducted interviews with all of the film's key creatives and presents an engaging narrative of the highly collaborative filmmaking process.
The book includes an introduction from writer/director/producer James Gunn, a foreword by Superman himself, David Corenswet, and a plethora of concept art and unit photography.
Featured are Metropolis—inspired directly by the art of Superman co-creator Joe Shuster, the staggeringly beautiful Fortress of Solitude, the Daily Planet offices, and other locations in the film, along with costume and character designs for David Corenswet's Superman, Rachel Brosnahan's Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor, Nathan Fillion's Green Lantern, Isabela Merced's Hawkgirl, Anthony Carrigan's Metamorpho, Edi Gathegi's Mr. Terrific, and, of course, Krypto the Super Dog.
The Art and Making of the Film is the ultimate companion to the first epic big-screen entry in the DC Studios canon.
In The Art and Making of the Film, fans are granted an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Gunn's vision for a Superman that brings the character back to his optimistic, heroic, and brightly colored roots with all the action, adventure, humor, and heart that audiences have experienced in his previous DC entries, The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker, and Creature Commandos.
Author James Field (The Art of The Batman) documents every stage of the film's production, from Gunn and his DC Studios co-chairman and co-CEO Peter Safran's earliest conversations about what their vision for Superman would be and what he would represent, to the comics they would turn to for inspiration, to costume and set design, and continuing on to post-production FX.
Field conducted interviews with all of the film's key creatives and presents an engaging narrative of the highly collaborative filmmaking process.
The book includes an introduction from writer/director/producer James Gunn, a foreword by Superman himself, David Corenswet, and a plethora of concept art and unit photography.
Featured are Metropolis—inspired directly by the art of Superman co-creator Joe Shuster, the staggeringly beautiful Fortress of Solitude, the Daily Planet offices, and other locations in the film, along with costume and character designs for David Corenswet's Superman, Rachel Brosnahan's Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor, Nathan Fillion's Green Lantern, Isabela Merced's Hawkgirl, Anthony Carrigan's Metamorpho, Edi Gathegi's Mr. Terrific, and, of course, Krypto the Super Dog.
The Art and Making of the Film is the ultimate companion to the first epic big-screen entry in the DC Studios canon.
176 pages, Hardcover
Published November 18, 2025
9 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
James Field
128 books13 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 23, 2025
I am a huge Superman fan and, I think, I've watched and devoured pretty much every film/tv show/almost comic book that depicts the big guy. Thus, needless to say, I absolutely loved James Gunn's Superman film and watched it multiple times when it was in the theater.
With that out of the way, Superman: The Art and Making of the Film from James Field is a strong, if not very solid compendium to the movie. If you adored the movie like I did, there is a lot you will enjoy from this book. However, I must admit that if you were to compare this to other art books about films, it does fall a tad bit short.
Fields does a great job going through each character, location, and tying it to the overall mythology of the character and how the pieces fit in the comics. The interviews are also very well done and depict the creative process and decisions the departments undertook in order to come to the final versions that we saw in the film.
However, where it falls short is actually surprising because even though you do get beautiful spreads of the art in making the film, it doesn't really feel like a lot and the decision for adding many different examples of the process for one location while only giving one to another character seemed a bit odd. Now, I'm going to assume that this is not Fields' fault since I can imagine there are contracts involved and there is a process, but it did leave me disappointed.
Even though I have seen versions of the trunkless Corenswet Superman on the web (and I also want to say on the blu ray) it is no where to be found here. Superman being the main character you would think there would big a very large section reserved for him, showing the various iterations of the costume before we got to the one we got for this film. But you don't. Instead you do get a lot of different depictions of Luthorcorp and for the 4th Dimensional Being that you saw in the background while Supes took off his boots. So there are just odd choices that were focused on, which might lead up to some disappointment.
All in all, a solid compendium to the movie especially if you are a fan. But if you were looking for unexpected little nuggets or interesting iterations of a design, especially on the important components such as Superman, you might be disappointed.
With that out of the way, Superman: The Art and Making of the Film from James Field is a strong, if not very solid compendium to the movie. If you adored the movie like I did, there is a lot you will enjoy from this book. However, I must admit that if you were to compare this to other art books about films, it does fall a tad bit short.
Fields does a great job going through each character, location, and tying it to the overall mythology of the character and how the pieces fit in the comics. The interviews are also very well done and depict the creative process and decisions the departments undertook in order to come to the final versions that we saw in the film.
However, where it falls short is actually surprising because even though you do get beautiful spreads of the art in making the film, it doesn't really feel like a lot and the decision for adding many different examples of the process for one location while only giving one to another character seemed a bit odd. Now, I'm going to assume that this is not Fields' fault since I can imagine there are contracts involved and there is a process, but it did leave me disappointed.
Even though I have seen versions of the trunkless Corenswet Superman on the web (and I also want to say on the blu ray) it is no where to be found here. Superman being the main character you would think there would big a very large section reserved for him, showing the various iterations of the costume before we got to the one we got for this film. But you don't. Instead you do get a lot of different depictions of Luthorcorp and for the 4th Dimensional Being that you saw in the background while Supes took off his boots. So there are just odd choices that were focused on, which might lead up to some disappointment.
All in all, a solid compendium to the movie especially if you are a fan. But if you were looking for unexpected little nuggets or interesting iterations of a design, especially on the important components such as Superman, you might be disappointed.
December 18, 2025
SUPERMAN: The Art and Making of the Film
by James Field ⭐️⭐️ (and that’s being generous)
What’s it about?
In theory, this should be a glorious, obsessive deep dive into the making of Superman—casting decisions, technical challenges, abandoned ideas, marketing strategy, production chaos, and the kind of nerdy minutiae that makes movie-making coffee table books worth their absurd price tags.
I love these books. I collect them. I justify them. I rearrange furniture around them.
What did I think?
There is very little Superman here. Instead of insight, you get page after page of:
• glossy photos
• vague praise
• people repeatedly telling us “Superman is great”
He is great. We know this. That’s not the assignment.
What’s missing:
• Why certain creative decisions were made
• Who else was considered for roles
• What went wrong (or nearly did)
• How the hardest shots were achieved
• Any real discussion of marketing, risk, or innovation
You know… the making-of part.
There are some attractive sections, sure. But even after staring at impossibly handsome David Corensweat for 30 consecutive pages, the appeal starts to wear thin. He’s a solid Superman—very good, even—but he’s no Christopher Reeve, and he can’t carry a book on cheekbones alone.
This feels less like a carefully curated production history and more like a lazy highlight reel padded to justify a hardcover.
Should you read it?
No. This is a bookstore book.
You:
1. Pick it up
2. Flip through it in five minutes
3. Nod politely
4. Put it back on the shelf
5. Gently pat it
6. Whisper, “That’s not worth $50”
A huge missed opportunity. Superman deserved better. So did my wallet.
by James Field ⭐️⭐️ (and that’s being generous)
What’s it about?
In theory, this should be a glorious, obsessive deep dive into the making of Superman—casting decisions, technical challenges, abandoned ideas, marketing strategy, production chaos, and the kind of nerdy minutiae that makes movie-making coffee table books worth their absurd price tags.
I love these books. I collect them. I justify them. I rearrange furniture around them.
What did I think?
There is very little Superman here. Instead of insight, you get page after page of:
• glossy photos
• vague praise
• people repeatedly telling us “Superman is great”
He is great. We know this. That’s not the assignment.
What’s missing:
• Why certain creative decisions were made
• Who else was considered for roles
• What went wrong (or nearly did)
• How the hardest shots were achieved
• Any real discussion of marketing, risk, or innovation
You know… the making-of part.
There are some attractive sections, sure. But even after staring at impossibly handsome David Corensweat for 30 consecutive pages, the appeal starts to wear thin. He’s a solid Superman—very good, even—but he’s no Christopher Reeve, and he can’t carry a book on cheekbones alone.
This feels less like a carefully curated production history and more like a lazy highlight reel padded to justify a hardcover.
Should you read it?
No. This is a bookstore book.
You:
1. Pick it up
2. Flip through it in five minutes
3. Nod politely
4. Put it back on the shelf
5. Gently pat it
6. Whisper, “That’s not worth $50”
A huge missed opportunity. Superman deserved better. So did my wallet.
December 21, 2025
LOVE LOVE LOVE
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews